Heart of Me
by XxXBeautifulXxXDreamerXxX
Summary: Jude McIntosh has been best friends with Joe McAlister for most of her life. Every major moment has been spent together, including a giant dome covering all of their town. Every day after that is an adventure with more than a few twists and turns that they have to face together. Will it make their friendship stronger or will the appearance of a new girl change everything forever?
1. Chapter 1

**With the new season premiering and everything, I wanted to try my hand at a story. I have two other stories going right now, but I figured another one couldn't hurt. I hope people actually like this.**

**There are links to Jude and her clothes on my profile. Oh yeah, the only things I own are Jude and Brayden. **

* * *

"I hate this!" I shouted, tossing my pencil across the room and flopping onto my back.

"You're being a drama queen, it's just scientific notation. It could be so much harder," Joe said, rolling his eyes at my dramatics.

"That's easy for you to say, you're a freakin' genius!" I told him, covering my face with the bend of my arm and trying to stop myself from laughing at how ridiculous I sounded.

Joe McAlister and I have been best friends since we were five years old. We sat beside each other for the first time in kindergarten and every year after that. McIntosh and McAlister were right next to each other in the alphabet so we bonded, and by the time we were in first grade we were inseparable.

I grabbed the pillow by my head and used it to hit the side of his head. The shock of it ended up knocking him onto the floor and I quickly followed him down, hitting him with the pillow as I went. I straddled his waist and tried to hit him without dissolving into giggles. Suddenly he reached up and yanked the pillow out of my hands, making me lose my balance and fall down with my face against his shoulder.

I laughed and sat up a little, only to realize how close that he and I really were. At age nine, Joe and I ended up sharing our first kiss. I'd dare him to do it, but then I'd ran when he tried. He ended up chasing after me and pressing our lips together clumsily. After it was over, I punched him in the shoulder and called him a "dummy" before running back to my house.

"Hi there," I breathed out, my breath fanning across his face.

"Hello," he responded, his cheeks turning pink and making me smile at his dorkiness.

A sudden shaking underneath us made me freeze with my hands on his chest. Chester's Mill wasn't exactly the hotspot for earthquakes, but what else could the shaking be? I stood up quickly and pulled Joe up with me before pulling him over into the doorjamb.

"How are we having an earthquake right now? Has this ever happened before?" I asked him, clutching his arms and standing close to him to try and calm my nerves.

"I don't know, sometimes when the plates shift really abruptly it causes such powerful earthquakes that you can feel them states away," he explained quickly to me. He looked at my face and said, "Hey, it's okay. We're going to be fine, it'll be over in a few minutes."

"Brayden's at home alone right now," I told him, trying to push him away so I could get downstairs, but he held me tight. "I have to go check on him!"

He grabbed my face and made me hold his gaze when he spoke. "Hey, I swear Brayden's going to be fine. He's a smart dog and he knows how to hide from things like this. Animals are really smart, it's part of natural selection."

I knew he was right so I just stayed put and placed my forehead against his chest. When the shaking stopped, I pulled away from him and took a step out of the door jamb. The earthquake seemed to be over, but we'd learned about aftershocks in school so I knew I had to be careful.

"Do you want to go outside and check on the damage?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck. "After that we can go check on Brayden."

I nodded and followed him downstairs, expecting to see some things knocked over but no major damage. That wasn't even close to what I saw. There was a car that looked like it had spun out on the middle of Joe's yard and the cows had split into two different groups.

There was a man standing over near a big puddle of blood that seemed to be…floating? I ran over to the guy and saw that there was half a cow laying by his feet that looked like it had been split down the middle. I looked further down and saw that there were other things that seemed to be split right down the middle too, almost like something had fallen on them.

"What the hell is going on here?" Joe shouted, looking from the man to the bloody handprint that seemed to be floating next to the floating blood puddle. "Are you okay?"

While they talked, I walked up and reached my hand out to see what stopped it. I screeched when a shock coursed through my body. It was like touching the prongs of a plug when you were plugging it in. Joe ran over to me, but when he saw that I was fine, he raised his eyebrows.

He followed my lead and reached out to touch the barrier. He pulled his hand back in shock before reaching out to touch it again. That was Joe McAlister in a nutshell, everything was an experiment to him.

"It's sort of like an invisible barrier," he said to the strange man and me.

"Okay, hang on just one second, who are you?" I asked, turning to face the mysterious man. "Chester's Mill is too small for me to not know you."

"I'm Barbie," he told me, saying nothing else.

All of a sudden, things starting falling from the sky. I looked at the ground and cringed when I saw that they were dead birds. The barrier went up so high that it was making birds fly into it and snap their necks. What the hell was happening?

I heard the familiar sound of Chuck Thompson's place up ahead. I watched in horror as it slammed into the barrier and exploded. I gaped when the wreckage started to rain down to earth. I looked over to see if the others were seeing it too and saw that there was a big piece of debris flying right towards Joe. I started running over to him, but I knew I wouldn't get there in time to knock him out of the way.

"Joe, move!" I screamed before Barbie slammed into him and knocked him out of the way.

I rushed over to them and crouched down next to Joe's head. "Oh my god, are you okay? Are both of you okay? This is totally freakin' crazy! What the hell is that thing?!"

I heard something hit the ground beside me, but before I could look over, Joe said, "Jude, don't look. It's not something that you want to see. Trust me."

I listened and stood up, picking up the purse by my feet. I knew it was rude, but I opened it up and searched for a wallet anyway. When I found it, I let out a quiet sob. That wasn't even fair.

"Claudette Saunders," Joe read out loud from behind me. "Geez, Jude, didn't she work with your mom?"

"Yeah, she came to all of my dance recitals when I was younger," I told him quietly. "She used to make cookies for me on my birthday; she was trying for her pilot's license today with Chuck."

"That thing is serious if it made this plane crash and all those birds fall," Barbie said, drawing our attention over to him. "It's taller than I thought it was."

A flash light drew my attention and I saw a fire truck rushing down the road. "That truck is going to hit the barrier and crash! We have to stop it!"

Barbie went over to his car and rummaged around for a second. What the hell was he doing? We had to stop the fire truck before it killed everyone inside. Something told me that if it did that damage to a plane, it would absolutely destroy a truck going that fast.

I ran onto the road and held my hands against the barrier. Apparently the dome didn't shock you when you touched it the second time. I waved my hands back and forth and tried to get the attention of the driver. Chief Haines was a friend of the family, like much of Chester's Mill, and I didn't want him to die.

The tires on the truck were smoking like crazy as the truck tried to stop. It ended up a few inches away from my body and the barrier. Chief Haines was out of the fire truck and screaming at me within seconds, or at least I thought he was.

"Am I the only one who can't hear them?" I asked when I saw that Joe and Barbie were standing with me.

"No, and by the look of it, they can't hear you either," Joe answered, watching as all the firemen came out of the truck and walked up to us.

I saw that Barbie had a notebook in his hand along with a marker. That must've been what he was looking in his car for. That was smart, I would never have thought of that.

"What's the FAA?" I asked, reading the paper that he'd written on.

"It's the Federal Aviation Administration. They need to know about this barrier so they can close down the surrounding airspace," Barbie answered, wincing as the Chief touched the barrier and got zapped. "If not, they're all going to end up like that plane."

* * *

It seemed like the entire town came to Joe's house when news of the barrier spread. The entire police department was here on one side of the barrier with all of the firemen on the other side. I stood by Joe as he and Barbie explained what we'd seen happen earlier.

"Hey, I'm going to go check on Brayden. You don't have to come with me if you want to stay here," I told Joe after everyone left us alone.

"No, I don't want you to go anywhere by yourself right now," he told me, following as I made my way over to my dad's rusted out pickup truck.

We drove in silence and took in the destruction all over town. The middle of town didn't look any different, there was just a lot of people gathered around, but I was sure it was just as bad on the other side of town.

When I got out of the truck at my house, I whistled and let out a relieved sigh when Brayden started bounding up to me. I crouched down and scratched around his neck as he licked my face. It was a huge relief to know that he was safe considering my parents were both out of town visiting my Gran, it was just me and him.

"See? I told you Brayden was smart enough to keep himself safe," Joe said, coming up to the pair of us and crouching beside me and scratching his stomach.

I don't know what triggered it, but Brayden started barking and I blacked out. When I regained consciousness, I saw Joe staring down at me in total horror. My face must've been a giant question mark because he quickly started explaining.

"Holy crap, you just had a seizure," he told me from upside down, making me realize I was lying in his lap. "Are you okay? You were foaming at the mouth and everything."

I sat up slowly and pulled my shirt back down, realizing that it was up so far that my bandeau was showing. I don't think Joe even noticed that in the rush to make sure I was okay. Awe, that's why he was my best friend.

"I'm okay, my head just hurts a little bit," I said, pulling my knees to my chest and resting my chin on them. "How long was I out?"

"Not that long, but there was something else," he told me. "You kept saying something about 'pink stars falling in lines' or something."

I had no idea what he was talking about, but then again I was unconscious. After I calmed Joe down and convinced him that I _didn't_ need to go to the hospital, we got back into the truck. Brayden was sitting in the seat between me and Joe like he usually does as we drove back to his place. We'd stayed at my house long enough for me to pack some clothes for the night because I didn't think my parents were coming home tonight.

Angie's car was in the driveway and all the people from earlier were gone. The wreckage was mostly cleaned up, but there was still random pieces of metal strewn around. Well, it could've been a lot worse, I guess.

"I think Brayden's trying to tell us that he wants to go inside," Joe laughed, scratching behind his ears before opening the door. "Ang, are you home?"

"Yeah, but mom and dad aren't. I think you and I are alone here," she said from the kitchen. "Well, alone with Jude because I know she's always with you and I heard Brayden."

"Hey, you don't mind if I stay here, right? I don't really want to stay in my house by myself if this barrier stays up," I asked, even though I knew the answer. "Mom and dad are at Gran's.'

"You live here as much as I do," she told me. "But I have to go into the clinic. With this barrier thing, I'm sure there are a lot of hurt people and they need as many hands as possible."

"You don't even live here anymore! Do you remember that?" Joe shouted at her as she walked out of the kitchen.

She flipped him off before I heard the door slam and knew she'd left. Angie and Joe fought a lot, but I knew that they loved each other. I was an only child and I envied their relationship sometimes. It got lonely at my house, that's why I was always over here.

"Do you want to go around and see if there's anything happening? I bet there's a party because it's getting dark," I said after we'd sat around for two hours doing nothing.

"Why would kids be partying right now? It could be doomsday," Joe said, playing the part of a nerd perfectly.

"Because there was going to be a bridge party tonight anyway. I'm sure it's still going on," I told him, putting my shoes on. "Do you want to come with me?"

He dug around in his closet and tossed me a jacket. "It's dark outside, which means that it's colder You're going to freeze if you wear that."

I pulled the warm material over my arms and smiled when it dwarfed me. Joe wasn't a large guy at all, he was really slight actually, but I was smaller. When we were standing up beside each other, I came up to his shoulder. I regularly stole his clothes so I was used to how big they were on me.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door, leaving Brayden locked on his screened-in back porch. He would just get bored and sleep until we came back. He was a really good dog, I would take him with us, but he got really excited around grounds of people and barked a lot.

"I know you're not a big fan of parties, you don't have to come with me," I told him as I drove towards the bridge. "I go to parties by myself often."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not leaving you alone before it sinks in, McIntosh?" he asked, eyeing me from the passenger seat. "Just get used to me being wherever you are until this _thing_ leaves."

"You're so cute, McAlister!" I told him winking as we waited at a red light.

I parked my truck next to all the other cars and linked arms with Joe as we walked up to the party. It was actually really shitty and I regretted coming already. I knew it would've been better if I drank, but I also knew I'd never hear the end of it from Joe. I loved him to pieces and couldn't live without him, but he was a buzzkill sometimes.

"Hey, I know you. You broke Kingston's nose," a kid in a yellow beanie said, walking up to Joe and me. "Dude, that was so cool!"

Chris Kingston was my boyfriend of seven months. He and I were great together, or so I thought, but Joe couldn't stand him. Then I found out that he'd been cheating on me with another girl that I cheered with. I gave him the chance to come clean, but he didn't so I punched him.

"Yeah, that was me. I go by Jude most of the time and this is my best friend Joe," I told him, stepping a little closer to Joe when the guy got closer.

"I'm Ben," he said, nodding at us. "This party is shit, I want to go look at the dome. Do you all want to come?"

"Dome? Is that what it is?" I asked.

"Yeah, I've heard people talking about how the barrier circles all the way around the town," he explained. "And stuff that goes up, always comes back down. The police are saying that it's a dome."

"I want to go look at it too," Joe said, looking for any reason to leave the party. "Are you coming, Jude?"

I didn't want Joe to be by himself with this dome happening either; I guess that's why we were best friends. We always stuck by each other's side. I knew that if he was going to go explore, I had to go with him.

"Let's go explore an invisible dome that we can't see," I said, linking arms with Joe again. "I don't get why, but let's go do it anyway."

We'd just gotten out of hearing range of the party when Joe started acting weird. He reached out and touched the dome and instantly fell back against me, taking me to the ground with him. He was twitching around, having a seizure like he said I'd had earlier.

"Pink stars are falling in lines," he forced out as his body convulsed.

I had no idea what to do so I just held his head steady and hoped for the best. Ben was freaking out, calling for help, but I knew no one would hear us. I just hoped that Joe would be okay, I was after mine so maybe…

Just as quickly as it started, Joe's seizure ended. He groaned before opening his eyes and looking up at me. He let out a breath and seemed to relax his tensed body when he saw that I was still there.

"What the hell is going on in Chester's Mill?"


	2. Chapter 2

**SOMEONE ACTUALLY LIKED MY STORY! So shoutout to _FinalFantasyCrazedGirl01 _for reviewing, favoriting, and following this story! It means a lot to me!**

**There's a new outfit for Jude on my profile if you want to go look. **

* * *

After Joe's seizure, I forced him back into the truck and took him home. Ben said that he'd meet up with us in the morning to talk about everything. I guess Joe and I had inadvertently made a friend through our entrapment in the dome.

"Why did we both have a seizure today? Neither of us have had one before," I asked as we drove down the dark streets. "It's so odd."

"It's got to be the dome, it's messing with us or something," Joe answered, looking out the window as I drove. "I think dad has a generator out in the barn so we should have power tonight."

"Yeah, we have one at our place too," I told him. "Are you sure you're okay? You're being really quiet and that's not like you."

"I'm just trying to figure out where this dome came from. I wonder if it's just around Chester's Mill or if there are more other places," he told me. "Maybe there are domes over small towns all over the world."

"Don't do that, don't start thinking about something like that. You let it eat at you until it drives you crazy," I said, pulling over to the side of the road and turning to face him. "Everything's going to be okay, it has to be."

He let out a ragged breath and yanked his hand through his hair. "You're right, I know that, it's just so confusing. Why are we both having seizures? Why is the dome over Chester's Mill?"

I got back onto the street and drove the rest of the way to Joe's house. Angie's car wasn't in the driveway, but I just figured she was still at the hospital. Joe seemed to have chilled out with his questions. He just looked like he was really tired.

I parked and went out to the back porch to let Brayden in. I figured I would crash on the couch or in Angie's room, but Joe seemed to have different ideas. He grabbed the sleeve of my jacket and pulled me upstairs to his bedroom. I pulled a pair of pajama pants out of my bag and pulled them on with an old long sleeve shirt of Joe's.

Joe came back into the room from the bathroom and smiled at me. "I'm glad that you're here with me. I don't know what I'd do if you were out there somewhere."

I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my forehead against his shoulder. He held me close to him and let out a breath, making my hair flutter. His warmth seeping into me and making me feel sleepy and comfortable.

"I'm glad you're here too," I breathed out, letting the beating of his heart calm my frazzled nerves.

* * *

I woke up the next morning with my butt pushed against Joe's back and one of his legs between mine at my knees. My arm was stretched out, my forearm on his forehead. This was how we always ended up sleeping when I stayed over at his house, sprawled out across each other. Well, mostly me on him but whatever.

I heard Brayden barking downstairs and knew he was hungry. Joe was still asleep by the look of things and I thought I could get up without waking him. I was in the process of moving my leg from under his when he rolled over and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer.

I felt his breath hitting the back of my neck and it sent shivers down my spine. We'd cuddled up together before, but something about this was different. He had his entire body curved against mine and there was less than an inch between us.

My heart was trying to pound its way out of my chest. Our skin wasn't even touching yet there was enough sparks between us to start a forest fire. I'd never thought of Joe as anything more than a friend, but in this moment I couldn't help it. We fit together perfectly…

The door pushed open and Brayden jumped onto the bed with us, jarring me out of my thoughts. He started licking my face and I heard Joe groan. I looked over and saw that Brayden was sitting on him, probably making breathing nearly impossible. He pushed Brayden off and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Bray wants food and so do I," he said, rolling out of bed and making his way downstairs to the kitchen. "Are you guys coming?"

It was just like him to get up and act like he hadn't just turned my world upside down. I was debating whether or not I had crush on my best friend and he was concerned with breakfast. Brayden was circling the bed now, waiting anxiously for me to get up. He loved Joe, but he wouldn't go anywhere without me.

I made my way downstairs, rubbing my face as I walked into the kitchen. I heard rustling and figured Joe was cooking something. That woke me up and made me run the rest of the way inside the kitchen. Joseph William McAlister was not a cook, not even in the slightest.

"Oh my god, let me make breakfast! You're going to burn the house down," I told him, grabbing the pan out of his hand. "Will you feed Brayden for me?"

"I can cook!" he told me, crossing his arms over his chest in annoyance. "I'm not inept!"

"Of course you're not, cutie," I told him with a wink before turning around quickly when I realized what I'd said.

I couldn't believe that I'd actually called him cutie to his face. I couldn't believe that I actually let that slip out! I busied myself with grabbing the things for pancakes. The last thing I wanted was to look over at Joe and see how he reacted.

I heard the rattle of a dog food bag and then the sound of it filling a bowl. I had no idea that they actually had dog food here. That was so great, the McAlisters were such a great group of people. They went out of their way to make me feel like part of their family. That made the feelings that I may or may not have for Joe even more complicated.

* * *

After an awkward breakfast, I excused myself to go upstairs and shower. I spent a lot of time in there trying to clear my mind. I heard Brayden start barking and voices downstairs. I figured either Angie or Ben was downstairs with Joe now and they were talking.

I dried my hair and pulled it up before doing my makeup and getting dressed. I took a deep breath and readied myself as I jogged downstairs. Brayden rolled over onto his back in the hallway when he saw me and made me laugh, bending over to scratch his exposed tummy.

"Good morning, Jude," Ben called from the kitchen. "These pancakes are bomb!"

I rolled my eyes and started gathering all the dishes from breakfast. To be honest, I was just trying to avoid Joe at all costs. I was nervous about how he was going to react to the "cutie" comment. That meant I would even resort to doing the dishes; that's how severe it was.

I felt someone walk up behind me and press their body against mine as they slipped a plate into the soapy water. "I think you're cute too."

If I wasn't embarrassed before, I was completely mortified now. But at the same time I was beyond pleased. Maybe I wasn't the only one falling.

"So are we just not going to talk about your seizure and the "pink stars falling" or anything?" Ben finally asked, breaking the awkward silence.

The suddenness of it made me drop the plate I'd been washing. The water splashed out of the sink and drenched the entire front of my shirt, making it stick to me uncomfortably.

"Wow, are you okay, Jude? You're really jumpy," Ben remarked, sitting his plate by the sink and touching my shoulder.

"Uhm, yeah, I'm just going to go change really fast," I told him, drying my hands on the towel and heading up to Joe's room to grab a dry shirt.

I pulled off my t-shirt and laid it over the back of Joe's desk chair to dry. I was digging around in my bag for a dry shirt when I heard the door push open. I looked up quickly and saw that it was Joe, and his entire face was tomato red. I tried to cover my body with my shirt, but he'd already seen my bra.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry! I figured you'd be in the bathroom or something," he apologized with his hands over his eyes. Then he started walked and bumped into a shelf and a desk, "I was just grabbing my backpack because I thought we'd map out the dome, but instead I'm just knocking furniture over."

I pulled my shirt over my head and walked over to him, waiting for him to move his hands. When he did, he laughed awkwardly at how close we were to each other. I bit my lip and looked down at my toes, closing my eyes in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry for making things weird earlier. I didn't mean to," I told him finally. "That was literally the last thing I ever wanted to do, you're the only family I have here."

Something on his face shifted, but I couldn't tell what it was. "Yeah, you're my family too. You're the only one I have other than Angie, but God only knows where she is right now."

"She's probably at the Sweetbriar Rose," I said, grabbing the jacket I'd worn last night and wrapping it around me. "Let's head on out, I'm sure Ben is getting anxious waiting."

He grabbed a couple things from his desk and shoved them into a backpack. I packed a blanket and when I got downstairs, I added some water bottles and food. I had to be prepared for anything with this dome. I even stashed a first aid kit inside the bag.

"Do you guys think I can bring Brayden? He needs to get some exercise and I hate leaving him here by himself," I said, scratching him behind his ears as I spoke.

"Are you really asking us, or are you just telling us that he's coming in the form of a question?" Joe asked, scratching Brayden's head like he didn't already know the answer.

I laughed and said, "You know the answer to that. I don't even know why you asked."

* * *

The walk around the dome was filled with a lot of mathematic things from Joe that I didn't understand. Judging by the look on Ben's face, he didn't understand what Joe was saying either. It was good to know that other people didn't understand anything that came out of his mouth.

"Dude, you're literally speaking in tongues right now," Ben finally said, making me cover my mouth to keep in my giggles. "Do you think you could translate that to English for us?"

"I just said that here has to be some break in this thing. It can't be like this all the way though out," he said without looking back at us. "At least I don't think so, I have no idea when it comes to this thing."

I just nodded and continued on behind him, watching Brayden run around in excitement. Suddenly he started barking at something and ran towards the dome. The only thought I had was him being like the plane from earlier or the cow that got split in half and it scared me.

"Brayden, no! Stop!" I shouted, chasing after him and leaving the others behind.

"Jude!" I heard Joe shout, but I couldn't let Brayden go by himself.

I heard another dog barking and realized that Brayden must've smelled it. I knew how territorial dogs could be so I ran faster to catch up with Bray. I heard the guys trying to catch up to me, but I wasn't slowing down. I winced when I saw the pair of severed legs sitting on the blanket, but the dog seemed to be okay with Brayden.

"God, Jude, you need to be on the track team," Joe said, bending over and trying to catch his breath as he caught up to me. "You're really fast for someone with legs as short as yours."

"Those are severed legs. That is so cool, so gross, but so cool," Ben remarked, arriving later than Joe and significantly less out of breath.

"Hey buddy, did you stay with your owner?" Joe asked, crouching down by the dog playing around with Brayden. "You're a good dog, good boy."

It was so sweet watching Joe with that dog, but Brayden seemed to have other ideas. He went right to the dome beside Joe and started to pee. I started laughing before I could stop myself. He wasn't peeing on Joe, but it was close enough to show that Joe was his property.

I got closer to Brayden to pull him back, but what I saw on the other side of the dome stopped me. The blanket where Brayden had _relieved himself _was a little wet. It was like the pee had went through it, like when you were straining the water out of cooked spaghetti.

I dug around in my backpack for a bottle of water before getting the guys' attention. "Hey! I think I just figured something else out about the dome. Watch!"

I poured some of the water onto it and watched as it drained through, wetting the blanket. Joe rushed over to me and I could practically feel the excitement bouncing off of him.

"The dome is like a sieve!" he exclaimed, making me smile because I'd been the one to discover it. "Way to go, J!"

"Yeah, that's fantastic!" Ben cheered, then his face fell. "I'm just kidding. What the hell is a sieve?"

"A strainer, you douche, like for pasta," Joe answered, smiling at how clueless Ben really was. "That's cool, I bet it lets air in too. So at least we're not all going to suffocate in here."

"Maybe we can get through! Aren't we, like, 70% water or something?" Ben asked, making me wonder how he'd been in AP biology and I wasn't.

"Yes, but I think the other 30% is the problem, genius," Joe answered him, smirking at making my heart skip a couple beats.

The dogs ran back over to us and Brayden rubbed up against my legs. "Hey, did you make a friend? Did you make another doggie friend, boy?"

"According to his tags, his name is Truman," Joe said, bent down beside the dog again. "I'm going to take him with me, I mean, he doesn't have an owner anymore. I don't want him to be alone."

* * *

We'd been mapping out the dome for hours when I smelled smoke. I glanced up and saw that it was seeping out of something a little ways away from us. In this dome, the smoke couldn't get out fast enough to be healthy for us to breathe in. Now, I barely passed regular bio, but I knew enough to know that that wasn't good.

"Guys, look over there. Something's on fire," I said, stopping in mid-step and making Joe slam into my back. "We have to go check it out."

I started running towards the fire and figured that Joe and Ben would chase after me. There was already a crowd forming around the Sheriff's house. I'd heard through gossip that he'd died when his pacemaker malfunctioned. I heard a commotion before Deputy Linda Esquivel ran into the burning house.

"Everyone needs to go to their houses and grab anything that can hold water!" Barbie shouted, making everyone turn to face him. When no one moved, he snapped, "Go!"

By the time they all got back with their pans and buckets and storage containers, the fire was blazing. Barbie quickly put an assembly line into action. People were filling up containers and passing them down the line to put out the fire. Joe was beside me with Ben on his other side, but when I turned to talk to him, I saw him staring over at the line in front of us.

There was an unfamiliar girl standing on the other side of the assembly line. She had long red hair, dark lipstick, and a earbuds hanging from her shoulder. She was staring at Joe and a sly smirk on her lips and it made something boil inside of me. I wanted to punch her and I'd never been the jealous type.

"Can you pass the damn bucket so we can stop the entire town from going up in flames?" I snapped at Joe, making him look over at me in shock.

We were all working together like we'd practiced, but it wasn't doing much to squelch the building flames. I heard a rumbling sound and turned around with everyone else to see Big Jim Rennie driving a bulldozer. He bulldozed the house down and I watched as the flames started die.

I clapped along with everyone else at the sight. Brayden ran up to my side and I saw that Truman was close behind him. It seemed like he liked me more than he liked Joe. That made me feel smug, but then again he could just like Brayden.

"Why are you cheering? This is a sign that things are going to get worse," a man in a police uniform shouted, making everyone look at him. "We're all trapped under this dome like rats in a cage!"

"Paul! You need to stand down, you're going to cause a panic!" Linda shouted, making Deputy Rudolph look over at her.

"No, Linda, you need to stand down! I'm telling the people what they deserve to know!" he said, turning back to face us. "What makes you think that we can get oxygen in here? We could be breathing our last breaths right now!"

Without thinking, I stepped closer to Joe and saw him do the same to me. Like I said, he and I were connected to each other. I glanced over at him and saw that he was filming Deputy Randolph's meltdown for this blog. I rolled my eyes and missed part of his speech.

I heard him clicking a bullet into the chamber of his gun. Brayden whined and hid behind mine and Joe's legs; he was terrified of guns. Joe was trying to get closer for a better shot on his phone, but I grabbed the hood of his jacket and yanked him back.

"This dome is coming down right now and I'm going to be the one to do it," he said, aiming the gun at the break between all the people.

"Paul!" Linda shouted, but it was too late.

Deputy Rudolph fired the gun and I dropped down, pulling Joe down with my by his sleeve. I saw other people do the sam, but the bullet had already found its target. I covered my mouth in horror when Deputy Freddy Denton's blue shirt started turning red.

"Freddy!" Linda screamed, running over to him and trying to apply pressure on the wound. "Freddy! Someone go get a doctor! He needs a doctor!"

Everyone was quickly getting hysterical when Big Jim stepped forward. "Okay, everyone take a deep breath and calm down."

I watched someone put Deputy Randolph in handcuffs and in the back of a cop car. I looked up at Joe and saw that he was watching that redhead again. I let go of his arm and made a noise for Brayden to follow me and headed back home.

I was frustrated and freaked out. That mixture of emotions was making my eyes burn and I really didn't want to cry in front of the entire town. I don't even know why I wanted to cry, I wasn't a sensitive person in the slightest. I guess it was just the frustration and the exhaustion of everything going on.

I'd been sitting in Joe's living room for about half an hour when Joe came in. I didn't cry like I thought I would, I just sat and stared into the distance. He sat across from me on the floor with his legs crossed and his chin on his hand. I stared right back at him until he cracked a smile and I couldn't fight my mirroring one.

"Why are we smiling right now? This is not a time to be smiling," I told him, tossing a pillow at him that he easily caught.

"You're sad and I don't like it when you're sad," he told me, crawling over to me and standing on his knees by me. "Are you afraid?"

"Are you afraid?" I asked him instead of answering him.

"I hate it when you do that!" he told me.

I just smiled and rolled my eyes, and he called _me_ the drama queen.

* * *

**I don't want you to think that I hate Norrie's character bc I actually really like her and Joe together, but I wanted to play with them. I hope you guys are alright with that. **


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter is really short! I'm really excited to write the next one because of all the interactions between the characters! Thank you for reading, guys!**

* * *

Since there'd been a murder, it was obvious the kids of Chester's Mill wanted a bonfire. Joe was more than reluctant at first, but when he realized I wasn't budging on going, he came along. It was within walking distance so we locked Truman and Brayden on the porch with food before we left.

"I'm going to drink tonight, okay?" I told him when the glow of the fire was in view. "I'm just telling you before it happens."

"Do you really think that's what we need to be doing right now?" he asked, causing me to stop and look over at him. "What if you drink and you get hurt?"

"Joe, there's a big dome over our entire town, my family is god knows where, and I may die a virgin. I don't think there could be a better time to be intoxicated," I told him before walking away and leaving him to trail after me.

I knew the virgin comment was a bit much, but I was tired of only being his best friend. I wanted him to look at me like he looked at the redheaded girl earlier. I wanted to be the girl that he couldn't look away from. Okay, I think it's pretty obvious now that I have a crush on Joe McAlister. I know it's pathetic and that he's probably never going to feel it back, but it was my life now.

"J-Mac!" Carter Thibodeau shouted when he saw me walk up to the empty pool where the bonfire was being held. "It's a party now that J-Mac has arrived!"

Carter was one of Angie's ex-boyfriends who had developed a fascination with me. For a while, Angie even thought that he broke up with her for me, but I shot that idea down fast. I couldn't tell you why he liked me, but he does. I had absolutely no interest in him, but he couldn't seem to get that through his thick skull.

"Hi, Carter," I said fleetingly, brushing past him to get to the keg.

I filled up a cup before making my way back over to Joe. He was sitting by Ben with his phone out, watching the video he'd taken of Deputy Randolph's departure for sanity. I sat by him on the edge of the pool and watched along with them because I had nothing better to do.

"This has been the most interesting two days in Chester's Mill history," Ben exclaimed, hitting Joe's shoulder and almost making him drop the phone. "Sorry, bro."

I just chuckled and shook my head before taking a drink from my cup. It was warm, but beer was beer. I saw Joe glance at it for a second before going back to his phone.

"What do you think they're going to do with him?" Carrie Hill, a girl from our class, asked as she watched the video from behind us.

"There's not a lot they can do with him other than stick him in county lockup," I answered, taking another drink. "This is the shittiest beer I've ever drank."

"Yes, but it's beer so drink it and shut up," she told me, hitting my shoulder before walking away from his to mingle with other people.

"Hey, where can a girl charge up in this town?" an unfamiliar voice asked, making me look over at her.

It was the redhead from earlier and she was clearly talking to Joe, not Ben or me. I knew she was flirting with him, but I hadn't had enough alcohol to confront her about it just yet.

"Uhm, I have electricity at my house if you want to go there," he stumbled out. "I mean, if you want to, you don't have to."

"That sounds cool. I also need a place to crash until this dome issue resolves itself," she told him, and I had to refrain from gagging at that. "Can I stay with you?"

I actually choked on the drink of beer that I'd just taken. She was literally just inviting herself to stay with us like she'd been friends with us her entire life. That girl could just turn right around and go back to-

"What about those two ladies you were with earlier?" Joe asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"I have no clue who they are. We just happened to be at the same place at the same time," she told him, making raise my eyebrows.

She was lying through her teeth, I could tell. She knew those ladies, but she wanted Joe to think she didn't. Oh my god, she wanted to be alone with him and that was so _not_ okay.

"I'm staying there, too," I said, finally finding my voice. "I'm Jude and that's Joe, by the way. I didn't catch your name."

She hadn't said it, too busy inviting herself into my man's house. "I'm Norrie."

_My man? _What am I doing with my life?!

"Well, we're going to head over to the house to charge her phone. Do you want to come with?" he asked, but his eyes didn't leave Norrie.

"No, you guys go. I'm going to finish my drink and maybe get a few more," I told him before chugging the rest of my beer.

I had no intentions of drinking anymore, I just didn't want to watch them be together. I'd been at the bonfire by myself for about ten minutes when Ben came over to me with Carrie.

"I may or may not have spread the word that Joe has electricity," he said with a smile so I knew he wasn't sorry in the slightest. "I figured we'd better get there first and break the news before people start showing up."

"You're an idiot," I told him affectionately. "Let's go before the party starts and Joe has a panic attack."

* * *

"Hey, I've got some girls who want to hook up," Ben told Joe as soon as he answered the door, smiling like he was proud of his pun.

I giggled at him and walked inside, ignoring Joe's gaze on me. I'd drank enough to be a little bit tipsy, but I wasn't drunk. When I walked in, I saw Norrie sitting on the couch and knew Joe had been sitting with her. I frowned at the thought and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Did you invite anyone else?" Joe asked Ben in exasperation, glancing at Carrie.

"Uhm, I might have mentioned the generator to a few people," Ben trailed off towards the end with an easy-going smile.

"What about the whole "advisories to stay inside" things?" Joe asked, still as anxious as ever.

"Dude, it's the freakin' apocalypse out there! Advisories don't apply!" was Ben's only response before he came inside with Carrie.

I was standing off to the side watching as everything unfolded. Carter Thibodeau was charging people to plug up their stuff to Joe's electricity. I saw Joe looking at him, but I knew he was trying to psych himself up enough to talk to him and it would never happen. He was too quiet and soft-spoken to ever do that. That was one of my favorite things about him.

I sighed before stepping forward in between Carter and the girl he was trying to con out of ten bucks. "Stop being a creep. It's not your electricity, Carter. You need to leave."

"I don't think I will," he said, grabbing my arm and yanking me to him when I tried to turn around. "But, if you come home with me… I might be persuaded otherwise."

"Hey, leave her alone, asshole," Norrie said, coming up behind me.

"Jude's right, you need to leave," Joe said, moving to stand between me and Carter.

There was a loud crack and all of the lights in the entire house went out. Everyone groaned and started to file out of the quickly. Carter let go of me and I knew there would be bruises because he'd gripped me so hard.

"Thank you for standing up for me," I told Norrie, as much as the words burned my mouth. "I appreciate it. I'm sorry for being rude to you at the bonfire earlier."

"Uhm, I'm going to go see if I can fix the generator," Joe said, gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb before turning and heading over to the table.

"I'm sorry if I stepped on your toes. I didn't know you guys had a thing going on until he couldn't stop talking about you when we were alone earlier," she told me, glancing over at him. "I figure that's why you were such a bitch earlier."

"He talked about me?" I asked in disbelief. Then I added, "He's just my best friend, I'm sure that's what he told you."

"He said that, but I saw the way his eyes got all spacey when he talked about you. It was really disgusting," she said, hitting my shoulder with hers. Then she glanced down at my hand on my wrist. "If you put ice on that, the bruising will go down."

Angie told me that when I got my first hickey at age fourteen, but I didn't say that to her. "Thanks, I'll do that."

Joe let out a frustrated squeak and made both of us turn around. The dork was still fiddling with the generator and getting nowhere by the looks of it.

"Oh my god, what are you doing? You're going to get yourself electrocuted," I said, rubbing my forehead before going over to him. "That thing blew up like the Death Star."

"But they rebuilt the Death Star in Return of the Jedi," Joe said, smiling at me and making my heart skip more than a couple beats.

I heard someone knocking on Joe's door, and then I heard the door open as they came inside. An unfamiliar lady I've came in the room with us and threw her arms around Norrie. Well, it looked like I was right when I said she was lying about the ladies Joe had seen her with.

"Norrie! We I were so worried when we couldn't find you! We thought you were hurt or that something happened to you!" she exclaimed, letting go of Norrie.

I got up when I heard Brayden and Truman scratching at the back door and ended up losing my balance. Norrie and Joe both reached out to catch me and that was the last thing I remember before everything went black.

* * *

When I woke up, I saw that the woman from earlier was staring down at me with concern on her face. I was freaking out, trying to figure out where I was until I recognized a painting on the wall; I was still in Joe's house. I sat up slowly and saw that I was in the floor between Joe and Norrie who were also coming back.

"You three just had a simultaneous seizure," the woman exclaimed. "We have to get this checked out. Do either of you have a history of seizures?"

I shook my head and saw Joe do the same. Brayden ran over to both of us with Truman close behind, both of them sniffing Joe and me to make sure we were okay. I kissed the side of Brayden's head and leaned back against him when the lady started talking again.

"Tomorrow we're going to the hospital and we're going to have some tests done on you guys," she told us, leaving no room for arguments.

Well, that was going to be an adventure.

* * *

**I want Norrie and Jude to be friends instead of enemies. I'm not a fan of love triangles so...**


	4. Chapter 4

**This has been written for ages, I just forgot about it! I'm so sorry, I hope you're not too mad.**

* * *

I guess Norrie let it slip to her mother, the lady that came earlier, that Joe and I were alone here because she and her _partner _Alice were now staying with us. They were the first lesbians Joe and I have ever met, it was sort of cool, but I didn't make a big deal out of it. I'm sure the town already made them fell like shit for it; the people here hated anything different than them.

Alice had said that Joe and I didn't need to sleep in the same bed, but I didn't agree. As soon as the turned in for the night and Norrie was in Angie's room, I snuck into Joe's. He was already lying on his side with mine open, the covers pulled back like he was expecting me.

"I'm beyond tired right now," I yawned, flopping back onto the bed with my jeans still on. "Will you give me some pants? I don't feel like digging for my pajamas."

He laughed and got up, digging through his dresser for pants. I'd already taken my makeup off and let my hair down, ignoring the wild curls around my face. I was way too tired to do anything about that tonight, I'd just shower tomorrow and braid my hair.

He threw me a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, breaking me out of my thoughts. I stood up and popped my back a couple of times before turning to look at him.

"Close your eyes, I don't feel like sneaking back in here from the bathroom," I told him, making his cheeks turn red as he covered his eyes with his hands.

I put on the clothes that he'd handed me quickly, but looked at him for a while afterwards. He was so cute with his hands covering his eyes and his red face. Instead of telling him I was finished, I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

He moved his hands from his face and wrapped them around me, careful not to touch my skin. We'd learned earlier tonight that when we touched (we being me, him, and Norrie) we had seizures. I didn't realize how often Joe and I touched until we couldn't do it anymore.

There was a knock on the door and it made me groan. If that was Alice or Carolyn coming to check and make sure I was in Angie's room, I was going to pee on them. Like, literally, I was going to piss all over them. I just wanted to be with my best friend, but there was nothing sexual about it.

Joe let go of me and moved over to the door, pushing me to the other side of it so no one could see me without coming inside. When the tension left his shoulders, I knew that it was Norrie. She stepped into the room and shut the door quickly behind her.

"I can't sleep," she told us. "I keep thinking about this dome and it's driving me completely insane."

I was bed, bath, and beyond ready to be asleep right now, but I knew I had to stay awake with her. Whatever was going on under this dome, we were all in this together. I just sat on the middle of Joe's bed with Norrie on one side of me and Joe on the other.

"So, world, as of right now I'm living with these two ladies," Joe said into his phone.

"Yeah, with us and my moms," Norrie said, rolling her eyes at him like I wanted to. "That's as steamy as it gets."

"You can say that, but you're both on my bed right now," he said, winking at both of us.

"What Joe's not mentioning is that none of us can touch each other without spazzing out," I said through my giggles. "I don't think that's exactly Playboy worthy."

He started talking to the camera again and ignored my words. That just meant that Norrie and I were going to talk over him. Well, we would've if I wasn't struggling to stay awake. Eventually, I just pushed Joe over to the side and laid down, falling asleep.

* * *

I woke up the next morning to someone shaking me. I opened my eyes and saw that it was Alice and she didn't look happy. I remembered that I was in Joe's room and judging by the weight on my hip, I wasn't lying alone. I sat up and saw that Norrie was asleep using my leg as a pillow and Joe had fell asleep behind me with his arm around my waist.

"It's nice to know that all children pay equal attention to adults," she said before waking up the others and leaving us alone.

I sat up all the way and crossed my legs as another yawn wracked my body. When I opened my eyes I saw Joe looking at me, but when he caught my eyes he looked away quickly. I bit my bottom lip at that, it was moments like this that made me wonder if he returned my feelings.

"I'm going to go take a shower," I told them before getting up and stretching again. Then I grabbed Joe's hoodie off his dresser and said, "I'm wearing this."

"I think my closet is basically yours at this point. I mean, you already wear my clothes all the time anyway," he said as I got the rest of my outfit.

I flipped him off good-naturedly before making my way to the bathroom. I showered and was getting dressed when I heard someone knocking on the bathroom door. I opened it and saw that Norrie was standing there with a makeup bag and a straightener in her hands.

"I need somewhere that's not filled with my parents. Do you mind sharing it this room with me?" she asked, sitting her stuff by mine on the sink and plugging in the straightener.

"No, go for it. Just make sure that we don't touch, I really don't want to piss on myself in these shorts," I laughed, hitting her hip with mine.

We joked around together lightheartedly while we got ready. It was nice to have a friend that was a girl, it had been just me and Joe for so long. Girl talk was something that I didn't know I liked until I'd experienced it. Angie was great to talk to, but she was so much different than me. Norrie and I were a lot more alike that I'd realized when I'd first seen her.

"Do you and Joe cuddle like you did this morning every time you have a sleepover?" she asked as I put on my makeup.

"What do you mean? We weren't cuddled up!" I exclaimed, even though I knew that I was lying through my teeth. "You were sleeping on my leg, you jerk!"

"All I'm saying is you two are pretty touchy for people who are just besties," she sing-songed to me when she finished her hair.

"We aren't even allowed to touch each other!" I exclaimed as she opened the door and I saw Joe coming out of his room.

"Are you guys okay…?" he asked when he saw how red my face was and how hard Norrie was laughing at me. "Did I miss something?"

We both shook our heads and walked out together. I threw my things back onto Joe's bed before grabbing my and socks. I jogged back downstairs to the kitchen, grinning when I saw that Joe was on the floor playing with Brayden and Truman like the dork he was.

I grabbed some of the toast that Alice sat on the table and buttered it. The ride to the hospital was an adventure, and that was putting it nicely. I sat in the middle with Norrie and Joe on either side of me, making sure that we didn't touch each other.

"This is too tightly squeezed back here," Norrie complained, leaning against the door as much as she could. "We're so close!"

"Hush, all three of you are tiny. I'm sure there's enough room back there for another five kids your size," Carolyn replied with roll of her eyes.

We pulled into the parking lot and rolled out of the car. Apparently, according to the nurse Alice talked to, the hospital was too understaffed and had no one to run the tests that she was requesting. Alice ended up saying that she would run the tests so the nurse took us to a room with the machines that she needed and left us there.

"First, I'm going to draw your blood and test it," she told us as she gathered the things she'd need.

This time Joe was in the middle with me and Norrie on either side of him. I hated having my blood drawn more than anything in the world. I rolled the sleeve of the hoodie up and waited for my turn. I couldn't watch the blood being drawn from the others.

I had the other sleeve of the hoodie pulled down over my hand when Alice moved to me. I felt something wrap around my hand and looked down to see that Joe was holding it. I smiled at him and pressed my face to his shoulder so I didn't have to watch Alice.

"Hey, she's finished," he whispered to me, pressing his lips to my hair.

I pulled away from his shoulder and quickly yanked my sleeve back down and pulled up legs up. I sat my chin on my knees as Alice took Norrie's blood. I heard them arguing with each other playfully and it made me smile. It also sent a pang of jealousy through me; I missed my mom.

"I'm going to go take this to get tested," Alice told us. "When I get back, we'll do the EEG."

"Is there some hidden trauma about needles?" Norrie asked me, turning around to face Joe and me. "You looked like you were about to pass out."

"When I was little, I had an allergy to everything. I had to get these shots in my back to test for my new ones and it was awful. I would ball my eyes out until it was over," I told her. "I've had an irrational fear of them ever since then."

"Okay, I'm going to attach these electrodes to your heads and look for abnormalities that could be causing your seizures," Alice explained as she came back into the room with us.

The electrodes were these weird patch things that had wires attached that she stuck to our heads. I looked over at Joe and saw that he was already staring at me. I felt my face heating up, but I didn't look away from him. I heard Norrie make a noise beside me and I barely resisted the urge to flip her off.

Apparently nothing showed up on the EEG thing, we all looked normal. I had a crazy thought that maybe the dome was making us freak out. Maybe it wanted us to realize that all three of us were connected to each other somehow. I knew that I needed to explain that to Joe and Norrie, but I couldn't do it with Carolyn and Alice in here with us.

There was a knock on the door and, when it opened, I saw that it was Big Jim. Alice had just taken the electrodes off of us when he asked if she could come help treat the patients. Apparently most of Chester's Mill's population were at the hospital with weird symptoms.

"I'm going to go check on them. Can you come with me Care?" she asked, standing up. When she nodded, Alice said, "You guys stay in here, I'll be back in a minute."

They left us alone in the exam room and gave me the perfect chance to talk to Joe and Norrie about my dome idea. I walked over to the windows and made sure they were shut tight along with the door. I saw them both giving me weird looks, but I just brushed them off. That last thing I wanted was for anyone to hear me just in case I sounded like a lunatic.

"Okay, I think the dome is trying to tell us something," I told them, figuring I wouldn't beat around the bush. When I saw the looks on their faces, I quickly started to explain. "Think about it! Whenever we touch each other, we start convulsing. Joe and I have been friends for years and that's never happened before. Maybe the dome is trying to tell us that we're connected or something. Maybe it wants us to figure out why it's here or something."

"Uhm, I don't know about that…" Norrie said, trying to not sound like she thought I was crazy, but I could tell that she did. "Let's eat this food and then talk about it. I'm starving."

I thought about arguing, but eventually decided against it and took one of the sandwiches off the table. Alice brought them in earlier just in case we got woozy with the blood. Joe had his phone out and I figured he'd be blogging, but he was just aiming it at me and Norrie.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the phone out of his grip before tossing it to Norrie. She took pictures of Joe with his mouth full, sticking his tongue out with chewed up food on it. I gagged and tossed a piece of crust at him as I laughed. It was nice to have friends even if we were under the dome.

* * *

By the time we finished our food, Norrie was more willing to play along with my touching thing. She even came up with the idea of us touching and filming it. It made me a little uneasy at first, the filming part, but I agreed to do it in the end.

"Okay, so Joe and I are going to hold hands and see what happens. Norrie, you're going to record it and we're going to see what happens," I recapped what we'd already talked about just to be sure.

"That's basically the coconscious that we've come to, yes," Norrie agreed, sitting on a stool and holding the camera to face Joe and me.

I turned back to look at Joe and saw that he was crossing his eyes at me. I laughed and pushed his shoulder back roughly. And just like that, I was comfortable again.

"You ready for this?" I asked, sitting on my knees and holding up my hands in front of him.

"Let's do it," he said before sitting in front of me and lacing his fingers with mine.

At first nothing happened, but then everything went blank. When I came back, I was lying on my back with Joe beside of me. I sat up and rubbed my head, groaning at the pounding ache in my temples. I saw Joe moving slower than me as he made his way into a sitting position.

"That was seriously the scariest thing I've ever seen in my entire life!" Norrie exclaimed, moving over to crouch in front of us with the phone clutched in his hands. "Like, I'm not even kidding. Watch this!"

We got as close to each as we could without touching and watched the video. We said the same creepy thing about pink stars, but this time Joe sat up and shushed the camera. It was like watching a scary movie and I wanted to cover my eyes but didn't.

"Maybe you're right, maybe the dome's trying to tell us something," Joe finally said after the video ended.

"I think it's trying to tell us that we should keep this a secret," I finally said. "I feel like it doesn't want anyone to know that we're all connected."

"I think you're right, as crazy as that makes me sound," Norrie said, handing Joe back his phone.

* * *

Apparently while we were in the room seizing, a meningitis outbreak happened. I'd had the vaccination when I was younger along Joe, but I was still glad we were all quarantined. Alice looked tired when she came back into the room with us, and I remembered Norrie saying something about her being diabetic.

"Come on, we've got to go back to Joe's and get our things. We need to go back to the Inn," Carolyn said as we made our way back out to their car.

"You guys can stay at my house if you want until the dome situation resolves itself. I'm sure it's better than the Inn," Joe told them as we drove. "It's not a problem, it's actually kind of nice having people there."

"If you're sure we're not putting you guys out, it would be great to be there," Carolyn smiled back at him in the rearview mirror. "Thank you so much."

I knew Joe offered that to keep us close to Norrie, and maybe because he missed to presence of parents. I knew that was a crazy thought, most kids would _live _for being alone, it got old really fast.

"That was a slick move there, McAlister," I told him as we all walked inside. "Cleverly getting yourself alone with four women."

He pushed my shoulder, but I saw his cheeks were pink when he said, "Oh, shut up!"

* * *

**Before this chapter, I actually had more reviews than chapters! That was so cool, thanks a trillion :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I LOVE THIS CHAPTER OKAY? OKAY.**

* * *

It was yet another day of wandering around the dome with Norrie and Joe. This time we were standing near the bridge that brought people here from out of town. It was actually one of the only main roads that led out of Chester's Mill, the rest were back roads.

I was watching the sky while Joe talked to Barbie. Then all of a sudden, Norrie said something about camp and visitors' day. That made hope blossom in my chest, maybe I would get to see my parents!

I looked to where they were watching and saw a big bus coming close to the dome before it stopping. I knew that there were military personnel stationed outside and this was probably not a good sign, but when I saw my mother, all those thoughts vanished.

I ran over to the dome, only to have Barbie grab me around the waist and stop me from touching it. "I don't know what the military are doing, but you need to be careful."

"I know that, but that's my mom and I'm going over there. Let me go," I told him, struggling against his grip until he sat me back on my feet.

"I get it now," I heard him tell Joe, but I didn't turn around to see why.

My mom was as close to the dome as she could get, but then she reached up and touched it. I saw her flinch when she originally touched it, but then I signed that it was okay and touched it myself. I couldn't feel her hand, but I knew it was there and that brought me a lot of relief.

"Hi, how are you over there? Is it safe? Are you with Joe?" she signed to me quickly.

My mom was completely deaf in both of her ears. I learned sign language as I was learning to talk and almost 'spoke' it as flawlessly as mom did. Dad ended up getting frustrated with it so she mostly read his lips.

"I'm okay, it's as safe as to be expected over here. Yeah, I'm staying with Joe and Angie," I told her before turning around to look for Joe. "Hold on, I'll go get him."

I saw him standing back with Barbie, but when he saw me, he came over. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"No, mom wants to see you," I told him.

He nodded and excused himself before following me. Mom's eyes lit up when she saw Joe and instantly started signing quickly again, but she was going so fast that I couldn't follow her. I held up a hand and she immediately started to slow down.

"She's saying thank you for letting me stay with you and asking you to watch out for me," I translated for him. "Oh my god, mom! I'm not saying that out loud!"

She just told us to be safe and use condoms. My mother just gave me safe sex advice, I'm going to explode. Shouldn't mothers be telling you _not _to have sex?

"What? What did she say?" Joe asked quickly, looking between the two of us.

"Nothing!" I told him quickly. Then I turned to mom and signed, "Why isn't dad with you? Did something happen to him?"

Her face instantly fell and I saw her eyes turn glassy. I wanted to grab Joe's hand in mine, but I knew I couldn't. He seemed to realize that because he wrapped his arm around me and made sure that his hand was on the fabric of my shirt as he held me close.

"He was driving home to come pick you up when the dome came down," she signed, stopping to take a breath. "And he didn't see it."

He was dead. My dad was dead, disintegrated by the wall like so many other people from Chester's Mill. I was in the middle of trying to think of something to say to her when I saw the army guys rounding up everyone.

"They're telling us that we've got to go so the next load of people can come," mom signed, wiping her eyes. "I love both of you, stay safe okay. Joe, take care of my baby."

I told him what she said and waited until the bus was gone to turn around. I ran as far away as I my feet would take me. When I stopped running, I looked around and saw that I was deep in the woods.

I fell to my knees and started sobbing into my hands. This dome took my dad from me, it took him from me and I couldn't even say goodbye. It wasn't fair that it could just do what it wanted, I couldn't handle the feeling building in my chest.

* * *

I stayed lost in the woods for about an hour before I headed back into town. I'd pretty much came to terms with my dad, and by that I mean I realized I couldn't change it and had to deal with it.

I saw Joe and Norrie wandering around, and when Norrie saw me, she ran full force to me. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me, rocking back and forth. I couldn't explain why, but I started crying again.

I wasn't a crier, I could probably count on both hands the number of times I've cried since I was ten. I needed to get ahold of myself and function, there was something going on or they wouldn't have brought our families to see us.

I pulled away from Norrie finally and wiped my face. I took a breath and calmed myself down again. They quickly filled me in on the "MOAB" that was heading for Chester's Mill. It was basically the military sending the "Mother of all Bombs" at us to get rid of the dome, and more terrifying, all the people under it.

"So we're all going to die?" I asked, crossing my arms as a shiver ran through my body. "They don't even care enough to try and get us out safely?"

Norrie and Joe both ignored my question, but I didn't really blame them. I was a bit hysterical at the moment, but losing your dad and possibly getting blown up by the mother of all bombs has been known to do that to a person.

I wanted to go be by myself again, I wanted to deal with this emotional turmoil inside of me. I loved Joe and I really cared about Norrie, but I couldn't deal with them right now. My lungs were actually starting to tighten and I knew I was going to start balling really soon.

They were in the middle of a conversation when I held up my hand, "Uhm, I think I'm going to head back to Joe's and check on Brayden. I'll catch up with you guys again later. Okay?"

I didn't wait for their answer before I turned around and started heading in that direction. I glanced behind me to make sure that they couldn't see me before I started running. I ran until my lungs felt like they were going to collapse, but I kept pushing.

By the time I tired myself out, I realized I was in front of Joe's house. I guess I really was heading to Brayden. I ran inside and found Brayden asleep on the floor, curled up beside Truman.

"Bray," I whispered, but he heard me and his head perked up.

He ran over to me and knocked me onto my butt. I laughed humorlessly before I pressed my face against his side and started to cry. I felt Truman blow against my side as he tried to comfort me too.

* * *

I don't know how long I saw in the floor, but eventually I felt someone hug me from behind. I leaned back and saw that it was Joe. I looked around for Norrie and saw that she wasn't here with us.

"Norrie's in the bomb shelter with her moms. I couldn't go without you and Angie," he whispered, brushing the hair out of my face as much as he could without touching me. "You know, this would be easier if I could touch you."

I turned around and wrapped my entire body around his. My legs around his waist, my arms around his neck, and my face pressed against my shoulder. He rubbed his hands up and down my back as I started to cry again.

"I wish I knew what to say to you to make this better, but I have no idea," he whispered to me, trying to distract me.

"The great Joe McAlister doesn't know something?" I asked, pulling away and wiping my face as I laugh rattled my chest. "I'm shocked!"

"I'm glad that you're feeling good enough to make fun of me," he said, reaching up to cup my face but, realizing that he couldn't, he dropped his hands onto our combined laps.

"Oh wow, I'm sitting on your lap right now," I said, backpedaling off of him and standing up. "I'm going to go wash my face and then we're going to go find your sister."

I wiped all the ruined eyeliner off of my face and didn't replace it. If I was probably going to die today, I was going to die today looking like myself. I took a deep breath and went back downstairs.

Joe was standing by the door, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest. He had his head tilted back and his eyes closed. I actually stopped in the middle of the hallway and bit my bottom lip. Oh my God, he was so attractive.

I looked at him a little bit more before touching his shoulder. He jumped a little but he relaxed when he saw that it was me. He opened the door and gestured for me to go ahead, following behind me.

We looked around the entire town, but Angie was nowhere to be found. I turned to look at Joe and saw that he looked desperate.

"Maybe she's already in the bomb shelter with everyone else," I said, trying to reassure him. "I'm sure that's where she is, waiting for us."

I could tell that he knew I didn't believe the words I was saying. He flopped down on the swing that sat in the middle of town. I sat beside him and tried to figure out what to say to comfort him, but I came up blank.

"I'm completely in love with you," I blurted out. "And I've been trying to figure out the right time to tell you. I don't think this is the perfect time at all, but we're probably going to die…"

I cut myself off when I saw the missal in the sky, quickly approaching us and the dome. I had so many more words to say, but when Joe grabbed my face and placed his mouth on mine, I couldn't think of anything other than him and what was happening between us.

I grabbed his wrist and tilted my head to the side so I could get closer to him. I didn't think about the possibility of us having seizures or what this meant for us, all I could think about was him. If we were about to be blown to bits, this was exactly how I wanted to spend my last seconds of life.

When we pulled away from each other, I saw that there wasn't destruction anywhere. The entire town looked the same as it did before the bomb hit. I looked past the town and saw the smoke surrounding us on the other side of the dome, but on the inside we were okay.

I looked back to Joe and saw that he was staring at me with wide eyes and amazement. I bit my bottom lip and looked down at my lap, giggling.

"Wow, that was amazing," he said breathlessly. "Can I kiss you again?"

I placed my hands on his neck and leaned forward, pressing my forehead to his. "Just for future reference, you don't ever have to ask me that."

He smiled shyly at me before hesitantly pushing our lips back together. This kiss was clumsy and fumbly and I realized something, making me pull away from him.

"That was your first kiss, wasn't it?" I asked, smiling when I saw his cheeks turning pink. He tried to look down, but I held his face in my hands so he couldn't. "Was I your first kiss, Joe?"

"Yeah, when we were nine," he told me, avoiding the question and my eyes. When he realized that I wasn't going to give up, he quickly said, "Fine! Yes, it was."

"Good," I said before moving forward and kissing him again.

* * *

**I HOPE YOU GUYS LOVE IT ,TOO.**


	6. Chapter 6

**This chapter is all over the place and I'm so sorry! I'm hope you guys don't hate me too much...**

* * *

Eventually, Joe and I broke apart from each other and stood up. We started making our way to the cement factory where everyone had gathered to wait out the MOAB. I kept feeling Joe's hand brush mine, and it made me grin that he was too shy to hold my hand after what we'd just done.

I reached over and took it upon myself to grab his fingers, lacing mine with them. I glanced at him and saw that had a stupid, loved up grin on his face. I leaned over and kissed his cheek before focusing back in on the task at hand.

"Okay, apparently the dome doesn't want us to die," I said. "It protected us from that bomb thing, so that's got to mean something, doesn't it?"

"We also don't have seizures when we touch anymore," he said, raising our clasped hands. "So something has changed."

I saw someone running towards us and, as they got closer, I saw that it was Norrie. She looked freaked out, but she seemed to be relieved when she saw us. She wrapped her arms around the both of us and, yet again, no seizure happened.

"Oh my god, I didn't see you guys in the cement factory! I thought you were both dead," she said after she pulled away from us.

"No, the dome protected us," I told her, pointing up to the big scorch mark that the MOAB had left. "It destroyed everything on the outside, but nothing inside changed."

"I don't think that's true," she said, eyeing mine and Joe's hands. "When did that happen? What were you kids doing while I was underground with the entire town freaking out?"

"Uhm, we learned that we don't have seizures when we touch anymore," Joe told her. "But other than that, uh …"

"Well, I'm on the search for insulin for my mom," Norrie told us, still looking at us knowingly. "Do you guys want to come with me? I've already got a list of all the diabetics in town and their addresses. Don't ask me how I did it and I won't have to admit that I broke the law."

I just shook my head at her and agreed to go. We were talking and it was almost like we were just a group of friends hanging out. But then I remembered the dome and my happy mood evaporated.

We approached the first house that Norrie listed and I recognized it. I've babysat the little boy that lives here a couple times. He was the one who had diabetes and I felt my stomach squeeze at the thought of taking it from him.

"Uhm, guys, I don't think we should take the insulin from this house. Aren't there more on the list?" I asked reluctantly, letting go of Joe's hand and crossing my arms over my chest.

"This is the last house, and I'm going to get insulin from it. My mom needs it," Norrie said, her face hardening.

I grabbed her wrist and held her back when she tried to climb the stairs. "Norrie, you can't take this insulin. It belongs to a little boy, he doesn't deserve to have it taken from him."

"I can't lose my mom! If I don't take some of it, she's going to die," she told me, her eyes getting glassy. "It sucks that it's from him, but I've got to do it for her."

"You two go for it, but I'm not going to be any part of it," I told her, crossing my arms over my chest in defiance.

"Fine," she said before stomping up the stairs.

I looked over at Joe and saw that he was trying to figure out if he should follow her or stay with me. "Just go with her, I'll be waiting out here."

He had another internal debate before reluctantly following behind Norrie. I told myself that it was only because he wanted to make sure that she was safe. I mean, I _was_ the one he'd kissed earlier.

They were in there for a while so I ended up sitting down on the stone wall along the sidewalk. I was literally about to go in after them when the door opened back up. Norrie looked seriously torn up and Joe looked the same.

"You were right," she told me, sitting next to me on the wall. "He was so small and he needed it."

"I'm sorry, I wish it wasn't like that," I told her, wrapping my arms around her body and trying my best to console her.

"Hey, can we talk to you?" someone shouted, making Norrie and I split up.

"Julia, Dodee, what's wrong?" I asked, jumping to my feet and moving to stand by Joe. "Did something happen?"

"No, is there something going on with you three?" Julia asked, raising her eyebrows.

I felt Joe's hand slide into mine and I gripped it. Julia and Dodee had to know about our seizures. I looked over at Norrie and saw that she was on the same page as us. Joe slipped his phone out of his pocket and showed them the video of us having a seizure.

"Norrie his them too," I said as they watched. "It used to happen anytime any of us touched, but it doesn't anymore."

"I think we should go to the dome and see what happens. Maybe the radio will unjam itself," Julia said after she explained what she and Dodee were doing.

The three of us piled into the backseat of Julia's car. Norrie was in the middle and I could tell that she still felt bad about the insulin and her mom. I knew what it was like to lose a parent so I could only assume what it felt like to _know _it was going to happen before it did.

I took her hand in mine and saw her shoulders relax a little. I didn't want to talk about it in front of Julia and Dodee, but I knew I needed to tell Norrie about my dad.

We stopped outside the dome and got out. I honestly had no idea what was going on, but I figured I would go along with it. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry honestly, and that was the worst thing. I should be happy because I'd finally kissed Joe! That should make today the best day of my life, but it wasn't.

I heard the radio start talking and felt my eyebrows raise in confusion. The dome was blocking all of the radio waves, internet, and everything of that sort. I saw that all the others had the same look on their faces that I did.

"I think the dome is using the three of you," Julia said, looking over at us. "I don't know what for, but I'm going to try and figure it out."

* * *

After we got back to Joe's house, Norrie ran upstairs with something clutched in her hand. I looked over at Joe and saw that he wouldn't meet my eyes. I felt jealousy coursing through me and I pushed out onto the front porch.

The front door slammed open again and knew that he'd followed me. His fingers wrapped around my wrist and used it to turn me around. I looked up at him expectantly, waiting for him to start speaking.

"I only took one vial, but only because the little kid had eight of them," he told me, his eyes begging me to believe him.

"Wait, you were avoiding my eyes because you stole a vial of insulin?" I asked him in disbelief. When he nodded, I started laughing and said, "I thought you'd done something with Norrie."

"You thought I cheated on you already?" he asked me, letting my hand drop out of his. "You just became my girlfriend, I'm not going to mess it up already."

I felt warmth course through me and my cheeks started to burn. "I'm your girlfriend?"

"Uhm, I mean, uh, yeah… unless you don't want to be…" he started to stutter and I knew that he was getting really embarrassed.

I just rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck. He hesitantly held my waist in his hands, almost like he was afraid I was going to pull away. I couldn't wipe the smile of my lips when I leaned in and pressed them to his.

I seriously loved kissing him, considering I was his first kiss he was really good at it. Joe was always considered a fast learner. He even took control this time, using his grip on my hips to pull me closer to him.

I didn't realize we were moving until he grunted and pulled his mouth away from mine. I looked up at him curiously and he said, "I ran into the porch rail."

Before I could say anything, I heard thunder crack and saw lightening flash. I pulled out of Joe's grip and walked off the steps.

"Jude! Don't go out there, it might not me safe!" Joe shouted, but I was already out in the rain.

"Joe, it's real rain!" I shouted as the water soaked through my clothes. "It's raining inside the dome!"

I yanked the hair elastic out of my hair and let my tumble down around my shoulders. I spun around in the rain, trying to push all the bad out of my mind. I felt arms wrap around my waist and knew that it had to be Joe.

I heard the door slam open again and saw Norrie standing on the porch. I ran up to her and grabbed her hand, pulling her out into the water with Joe and me. The three of us ran around the yard together like little kids.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey y'all, this chapter might be the last one for a while because I'm moving into University dorms soon and starting classes. Thanks for sticking with it though :)**

* * *

I ended up sleeping in Angie's room with Norrie that night. She wanted to talk about what happened with Joe and me during the bomb. I had no idea where to even start, but once I did it all started spilling out of me. We didn't end up falling asleep until really late that night.

When I woke up the next morning, I saw that Norrie was still sleeping so I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth before heading to Joe's room. I slipped inside quietly and slid into bed with him. He woke up partially and smiled at me sleepily before his eyes became huge.

"What's wrong?" I asked quietly, brushing his hair out of his face.

"Uhm, close your eyes!" he said, making me glance down and see that he was just wearing boxers and nothing else. "I'm serious!"

I giggled as I covered my eyes with my hands. I felt the bed shake as he stood up and shuffled through his room for pajamas. I'd always just assumed Joe was skinny under his t-shirts because he was so tall and lanky. I mean, he wasn't built or anything, but he wasn't all bones either.

I felt the bed sink again and heard Joe whisper, "You can open your eyes now. I'm decent."

I laughed again and moved my hands away from my face. His cheeks were still pink, but he looked less flustered than before. I grinned at him and slid over until there was only a couple inches between us. He slowly place a hand on my waist and pulled me the rest of the way to him.

"Mhmm, good morning," I told him, my breath fanning across his face. "Do you often sleep in your underwear when I'm not in your bed?"

"Shut up," he smiled before leaning forward and pushing our lips together.

I returned his smile as I slide one of my hands back into his hair. It wasn't a long kiss, it was just sweet and welcoming. When we pulled away, I tucked my head under his chin and slid my hand up the back of his shirt. It wasn't uncommon for us to sleep like this.

"You smell really good, I've always wanted to tell you that," he whispered to me before his breathing slowed and he fell asleep.

I followed soon after, falling asleep comfortably.

* * *

"You two are literally disgusting that it makes me want to vomit!" Norrie's voice made me jump out of a dead sleep.

I did better than Joe did, he ended up yanking away from me and falling into the floor. I rolled my eyes at him as a yawn worked its way out my mouth. I saw Joe push himself into a sitting position and scratch the back of his neck. A sure sign that he was uncomfortable.

"I was going to come tell you that I want to go to the dome, but I found you all…fornicating," she said, gesturing broadly to the bed. "That was _not _how I wanted to start my morning."

"Why? It's going to be the same as it was yesterday and the day before," I said, pulling my knees up under my chin. "It's a giant fishbowl turned over on us."

"You heard Julia and Dodee, we're connected to this thing," she said, coming over and kneeling next to the bed. "Maybe that means we're the only way to bring it down."

"I think she's right, Jude," Joe said, coming up behind me on the bed and sitting cross-legged beside me. "This dome isn't going anywhere, we might as well try."

I didn't like the idea of going to the dome, but then again, I didn't really like the dome in general so… I got out of bed and went back to Angie's room to get dressed. I drug my hair back into a ponytail before doing my makeup quickly. Norrie and I met up with Joe before heading out to the dome.

* * *

We were standing outside the dome, all of us touching it, but nothing was happening. I sighed and pushed back from it, running my hand over the top of my hair. It was frustrating to have this thing here and have no idea how to make it go away.

"I'm going to look around and see if there's something here that we can use or something. I don't even know," Norrie said, sighing as she walked away from us.

I sighed and rolled my eyes at her, but I understood where she was coming from. I wasn't the only one who was frustrated, I guess everyone was. I yanked the elastic out of my hair before pulling it back up for something to do.

I looked over at Joe and saw that he was already staring at me. His cheeks turned pink and he instantly looked down at his feet instead. I grinned at how sweet he was, it was like he forgot that we were together and he could look at me. I made my way over to where he was leaning on the dome and placed my hands on either side of his head.

"You know you're allowed to look at me, right?" I whispered to him. "You're allowed to do more than that, actually…"

"Hey, I have an idea on how to get a reaction out of the dome," he said lowly. "When we kissed the first time, the dome protected us. Maybe if we kiss _against _the dome, something will happen."

He moved one of his hands up to my neck and pulled my mouth to his. I liked the aggressive, confident Joe; it was really attractive. I ran my tongue along the seam of his lips until they parted for me. I slipped my tongue inside and mapped it out.

I clutched his bicep in surprise when his tongue brushed against mine. He let out a quiet whimpering sound and I groaned in response. It was his turn to map out my mouth as one of his legs slipped between mine, allowing us to get closer.

When we pulled away from each other, I was happy to hear that he was just as breathless as I was. I laid my head against his shoulder as I giggled along with him.

"I don't think it worked," I told him, not moving out of his embrace. "It was a nice idea though."

"Maybe it wants us to do something we haven't done before," Joe said, making me pull away and take a step back.

"I am _not _having sex with you for the first time against this dome!" I shrieked, crossing my arms over my chest in anger. "You are _such_ a guy!"

I stomped off into the woods in search of Norrie. She wasn't far away from us, but she had her back turned to me. As I got closer, I saw that she was watching a couple of squirrels play together. It was so innocent that I couldn't help the smile that worked its way onto my lips.

"I saw you two shoving your tongues into each other's mouths and left," she told me, but I saw that she was smiling. "You guys are actually really cute."

"Yeah, but it's complicated," I said, brushing her comment off. "He just suggested that we lose our virginities against the dome."

Norrie started laughing and after I realized what I said, I started laughing along with her. The idea was completely ridiculous! I overacted on him, he wasn't like the other guys I've dated. He genuinely cared about me and that was something completely new to me.

"Jude! Norrie! Where are you guys?" I heard Joe shouting for us from the dome. "Jude!"

I rolled my eyes and started walking towards Joe's voice with Norrie. When he saw us break through the tree line, his face pulled up into a relieved smile. He made his way over to us and pulled me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered in my ear, pressing a kiss just above it. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm not trying to pressure you or anything."

I pulled back from him enough to look into his eyes. "I know that, I freaked out because of past boyfriends. You're not them and I know that."

"If you two are done, I want to do something about this dome and figuring it out," Norrie said, drawing my attention away from his liquid blue eyes and over to her.

"Let's try and find the center of the dome. Maybe there's something there, like what's power it," Joe said. "What do you two think?"

"As long as it's something to do, I'm down for it," I said, sliding my hand into his and stepping back from his embrace.

"Yeah, I agree," Norrie said.

* * *

"I wonder why it chose us, the dome I mean. It's not like any of us are different than everyone else," I mused as we trekked through the woods together.

"I don't know, I've been wondering that for a while now," Norrie said from a little ways ahead of me and Joe.

"I don't either, but I'm sort of glad that it did," Joe said, looking at me and smiling in a way that made my stomach knot up pleasantly.

"So am I, because of this," I said, gesturing to mine and Joe's intertwined fingers. "And because of you, Norrie. I've never really had any girl-friends before."

"Same," she said, glancing back at me. "I've never really had friends in general before. In case you guys haven't noticed, I'm sort of a bitch."

"No, you're not," Joe said, dropping my hand and walking up to her. "You're not a bitch, you're our friend."

She looked at me questioningly and waited until I nodded my head to wrap her arms around him. I was surprised when I didn't even feel a twinge of jealousy. I trusted Joe and I trusted Norrie, I knew that they would never do anything to hurt me.

After they let go of each other, Joe took my hand back into his and we started walking back towards the center of the dome. I couldn't tell you how it happened, but Norrie and I were singing an old Backstreet Boys' song loudly. Joe was just smiling and trying his best to ignore us.

"Don't even act like you don't know the words, Joseph McAlister!" I shouted at him before jumping onto his back. "_You are my fiiiiiire! The one desiiiiiiiiire! Believe, when I say, that I want it that way_!"

"_But we are two worlds apart! Can't reach to your heart_," he sang along with me through his laughter. "_When you say! That I want it that way!_"

We all sang the rest of the song together, only pausing to laugh every other word or so. I stayed on Joe's back while we walked, and he seemed to not even be struggling under my weight. My head was thrown back in laughter when Joe stopped suddenly.

I looked over Joe's shoulder and saw that there was a pile of leaves that seemed to be floating. I dropped down to my feet and tried to approach it, but Joe grabbed my arm. I pulled it out of his grip and went the rest of the way to the sphere.

I dropped down to my knees and started moving the leaves. I looked up and saw that Norrie was helping me from the other side. After all of them were gone, I just stared at it in wonder. There was a big round ball of dirt, almost like there was a balloon or something buried underneath it.

Norrie pulled her backpack in front of her before starting to dig through it. She pulled out a water bottle and poured it over the sphere in the ground. When all the dirt was gone, something peculiar appeared under it. There was a black egg, sort of like the kind you saw that came from dragons.

"Is that an egg?" Joe asked with his eyebrows raised curiously.

He moved over to crouch next to it where Norrie and I were. It looked like a smaller version of the dome except it was covering the egg. I reached forward to touch it only for Norrie to grab my hand and pull it back.

"We don't know what it can do? What if it hurts you or something?" she asked tersely.

"Well, how are we supposed to talk to it or whatever without touching it?" I asked, biting my bottom lip in frustration. "I thought this was supposed to give us answers instead of more questions."

"She's right, we need to touch it together and see what happens. We're all connected to each other and the dome, I think we should start acting on it," Joe said finally, looking from me to Norrie.

Eventually Norrie agree and we all held up our hands over the mini-dome. Joe gave a countdown before we placed out hands on it. There wasn't a zap this time, there wasn't anything. I was about to take my hand off of it when I heard Norrie gasp.

I followed her eyes and saw one of her moms standing there. I raised my eyebrow in confusion at the sudden appearance of her, but I figured it was probably something of the dome's doing.

"Mom?" Norrie asked in disbelief.

As soon as the word left her mouth, she jumped up and started running. The apparition disappeared and I stayed crouching next to it. I thought about ignoring it, but I knew I had to follow after her. I didn't look back at Joe, I just took off after her.

I ran until I felt like my lungs were going to explode, but I kept going. Something about her mom appearing didn't seem right, it made a bad feeling bubble in my stomach. It was the same feeling that I had when mom told me about dad…

I made it to the porch right as Norrie was running back outside. She ran straight to the dome and hit her knees next to it. I heard her screaming at it to bring her mom back and knew what had happened. Joe caught up to me, but I grabbed his hand before he get closer to Norrie.

"Give her a second," I whispered to him, wrapping my arm around his waist and snuggling into him. "Just hang back here with me, okay?"

He nodded and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pressing his lips to the side of my head. I couldn't watch Norrie come unwound like she was, it made my chest tighten and my eyes burn. I turned to Joe and pressed myself against his chest, hiding my face as I cried.

Joe rubbed his hands up and down my back, trying his best to comfort me. He was whispering things in my ear that I couldn't and wouldn't repeat. They were things to stay between us.

I felt arms wrap around me from behind me. I pulled away from Joe and wrapped Norrie up tightly in my arms. This was something that Joe couldn't understand, it was something that bonded Norrie and me.

* * *

**Reviews for Norrie/Jude bonding?**


	8. Chapter 8

**Oh my god, this chapter is literally an eternity late. I'm so sorry that I've waited so long to update, but I've recently started college. I've just now gotten time to write this chapter and I hope it's good. **

* * *

I was sitting on the back porch with coffee the next morning. Everything that had happened to us in the last week was running through my head. There was so much happening and it seemed like Joe, Norrie, and I were the center of it. It wasn't fair, we're just kids caught in something that shouldn't have happened.

I was so deep in thought that I didn't hear the door open so when Joe sat down beside me on the swing, I jumped. I slapped a hand over my racing heart and sat the coffee mug down. I punched his arm before pulling my knees up and placing my chin on them.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you heard the door open," he told me, watching me closely. "Are you okay? You haven't said much since last night."

"I'm just thinking a lot, I guess. I'm sorry, I don't mean to shut you out," I told him, scooting closer and laying my head on his shoulder. "There's just so much going on and it seems like we're in the middle of it."

We sat like that for a while before the back door opened up again. Angie walked out onto the porch with us and I did a double take. I literally haven't seen her since the dome came down, yet here she was like nothing had happened.

Joe jumped up from the swing and I had to move quickly to keep from falling onto the porch. "Where have you been all week?"

I saw something flash across Angie's face, but she quickly covered it. "Uhm, nowhere. Why don't we go to the Sweetbriar and get something to eat?"

Joe turned to me and raised his eyebrows. "Do you want to go get something to eat, Jude?"

"Uhm, you two go on. I'm going to check on something and I'll meet you both there," I said, standing up and grabbing my coffee cup.

Once they were gone, I made my way upstairs. I knocked on Angie's bedroom door and waited for Norrie to say something. All I heard was silence so I opened the door and walked inside anyway. She was laying on the bed on her back, staring up at the ceiling.

"Hey," I said, shutting the door behind me.

She didn't say anything back to me, but she did scoot over on the bed. I took that as a sign to lay beside her so I made my way over to her. We lay there in silence for a while before she spoke.

"How do you handle this? I feel like my chest is caving in," she said in a rough voice. "I feel like I'm going to stop breathing and fall apart at the same time."

"I wish I could tell you how to handle it, but I'm not handling my dad either. I just pushed it down and tried to ignore it because there's so much going on right now," I told her honestly. "I wish I had some surefire advice that could make you feel better, but I don't."

I felt her fingers wrap around mine and hold on to it tightly. Norrie didn't show emotions often so I knew she had to be really hurting to let me see her like this. I pulled on her hand until she was closer to me and rubbed her back as she came undone against me.

"I was so awful to her and Carolyn. I told her that I hated her," she sobbed, soaking through my shirt. "I mean, I apologized, but I still said it."

"She knows that you love her, Nor. She loved you too," I told her. "There's no way she can't know, you ran back here from the woods for her."

We stayed like that for a while before she said she wanted to sleep for a while. I nodded and left her alone, going to Joe's room to get dressed. I was running low on clothes, I needed to make a stop by my house soon and get more.

I stopped and fed Brayden and Truman before going to my truck. I tossed my dirty clothes filled backpack into the passenger seat and headed towards the Sweetbriar. I walked inside and saw Joe sitting at a booth by himself and Angie talking to Big Jim. That made warning bells go off in my head, but I ignored them.

"Hi," I said as I sat down across from him. "What're you doing?"

"I can't stop thinking about the mini dome and the egg," he whispered to me, showing me the napkin he was doodling on. "Like, what if it's what's powering the dome?"

"Hey guys, what are you doing this morning?" Julia asked, making me and Joe jump in surprise. "Sorry, were you sharing secrets or something?"

I saw Joe discretely wad up the napkin before smiling up at her. "Nothing, we're just ordering food and talking to Angie. Or at least we were until she went AWOL again."

She seemed skeptical, but she let it slide. I knew she was under as much stress as I was when it came to all of this stuff. She was just a journalist that got pulled into government issues and Big-Jim-insanity.

"I'm going to head to my house and pick up some more clothes," I told Joe after she left. "I'll meet up with you later, okay?"

"Do you want me to go with you?" he asked, drumming his fingers on the table.

"If you want to," I shrugged. "You can stay with Angie if you'd like, it doesn't really matter."

Despite my gut feeling, I let Joe drive us to my house. He had his permit, but he didn't really drive that often because he was awful. I tried my best to not freak him out as I clutched the "Oh shit!" handle above the door. He finally parked in my driveway after almost hitting my mailbox and more than a couple trees.

"It's nice to know that there are some things you're not genius at," I told him after we got out the car and headed into my house.

"So we're forgetting my complete lack of athleticism now?" he asked me, winking in my direction and making my heart skip a beat.

We had walked down the hallway to my bedroom while talking and were now standing next to my bed. Joe was still looking at me like he was earlier and it made me shiver and suck my bottom lip into my mouth. I don't even think he realized how sexy he looked right now.

I dropped my backpack onto the ground and walked up to him slowly. He was watching me with an arched brow, but he wasn't moving. I stopped walking when there was only a couple inches between us and stood on my tippy toes to reach him.

"Kiss me," I breathed out.

He didn't pause. He reached out and grabbed me by my face, cupping my cheeks in his hands, and pressed our mouths together. I had both of my hands resting on his chest and used them to push him back onto my bed. Our mouths only parted for a second, but it was enough time for him to look at me in wonder.

"What are you doing?" he asked, completely breathless and adorable.

"You really _are_ new at this, McAlister," I remarked before taking his neck in my hands and kissing him again.

He gripped my hips tightly in his hands and moved his tongue along the seam of my lips. I parted them and let him do as he pleased. I loved it when he took control, his confidence was so attractive.

I moved my legs to either side of his hips and pulled up for air. Joe took my pause as permission and flipped me over onto my back. I gasped as he kissed along the side of my neck clumsily. I slid one of my hands up his torso and under his shirt, feeling his bare skin against mine.

The kisses turned into nips against my skin and I actually whimpered like a scalded cat. I felt my face turn red and embarrassment shoot through me. Joe didn't seem to mind the sound, instead he moved his mouth back to mine and scorched me.

I wanted to leave my mark on him somewhere. I wanted everyone to know that he was mine, which surprised me. I wasn't usually this territorial over things. I pushed the thought away and placed my hands back on the outside of Joe's shirt.

He rolled off of me and stared up at the ceiling like I was. Our breathing was ragged and it made me smile. For one second, or however many seconds we were like that, we were just normal teenagers fooling around in my bed. I loved that and I loved that I got to experience it with Joe.

"Oh wow, I didn't think that's what was going to happen at all," he finally said, breaking the silence surrounding us.

I rolled out of my bed and started going through my backpack. I tossed all of my dirty clothes into my basket before replacing them with clean ones. I would start a load of laundry before I left to go back to Joe's.

I had just finished packing when Joe said, "You know what would be awesome? If you brought those clothes back and did some of my laundry, too."

I smiled at him and nodded, handing him the basket full of clothes. "You have to pack them."

* * *

As soon as we got back to the house, all hell broke loose. We had just walked in when Norrie started screaming at Joe. She was blaming him for his mom, saying that she died because we all touched the mini-dome. I literally couldn't even think of something to say to her because the thought was so out there.

"When Carolyn is ready, we're moving out because bad things happen when all three of us are together," she screamed, bringing me into their argument. "It's not normal to be as connected as we all are so I'm taking myself out of the equation."

Carolyn came down the stairs soon after that and the pair of them walked out. I reached over to rub Joe's shoulder, but he shrugged me off roughly and stalked outside. I just stood there watching him walk away without saying anything because, to be honest, I had no idea what to say.

"What just happened?" Angie asked from her spot behind me.

"Norrie's mom died last night from a diabetic thing and Norrie's not handling it well," I told her before heading to the laundry room.

"Her mom _died_?!" Angie asked in surprise. "What the hell is going on here? The most eventful thing that happened in Chester's Mill before this dome was when Maggie Dennis and Chase Cornell got caught going at it in the hay loft of his father's barn and he chased Chase around town naked."

I didn't know what else to say so I just nodded. "Do you have any dirty laundry? I'm about to start a load."

She nodded before going back to the front of the house. She came back with a bag full of clothes and a sheepish smile on her lips. This was the Angie that I remember from growing up, the girl who said that she would never, _ever _be a housewife. The girl who had no idea how to work the washer or dryer or the stove and was dying to get out of Chester's Mill.

I filled up the washer and started it before I made my way outside to Joe. He was standing over where Alice was supposed to be buried, staring down at the ground.

"Hey scarecrow, do you want to talk about it?" I asked him timidly, keeping distance between us.

He looked up at me with sad eyes before looking back down at the ground. "She's right. If we hadn't touched the mini-dome, maybe her mom wouldn't have died."

"Do you seriously think that?" I asked him, moving to stand in front of him so he had nowhere else to look but my face. "That's not true! Norrie's upset and trying to blame everyone to get some form of closure. Her mother was diabetic, it was a natural death. You didn't cause it any more than the rain from the other night did."

When his eyes met mine, I saw that they were glassy and it made my heart give a painful squeeze. Joe McAlister was always happy and always had a smile on his face. It should've been a crime to make him sad, and even more so to make to make him actually cry.

"I don't know what to do anymore," he forced out before he dropped his head.

I stood on my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around his neck. He held onto me like a lifeline as sobs wracked his body. I ran my fingers through his hair as I tried my best to comfort him. We stood like that for a while before someone cleared their throat behind us.

Joe jumped and wiped his face before looking up to see Julia standing with us. "Hey, what's going on? Are the two of you okay?"

"Norrie blames me for her death," he told her, taking my hand in his and squeezing it almost painfully. "She thinks that because we all went and found the egg, that we touched that thing, that it caused her death."

I felt my blood run cold at his words. He just told Julia about the egg and the mini-dome, he just told her about everything that we needed to keep secret. Oh shit, this was not going to end well.

"What egg are you talking about? What did you all touch?" Julia demanded, her journalistic nature peeking through. "I want to see it."

Joe and I looked at each other, and I knew that he was thinking the same thing I was. Maybe it was time to include someone who wasn't a kid. Maybe Julia could give us more insight into this. Hell, maybe she could just make us feel like everything was going to be okay.

"Okay, come on. We'll show you," Joe said finally.

* * *

I waited for a knot to form in the pit of my stomach, but it never happened. It was almost like telling Julia was what we were supposed to do. I had zero doubt over the decision, it just seemed to make sense. Either I was going completely insane, or I was finally understanding the dome a little bit more.

"Is that a mini-dome?" Julia asked, walking over to the egg. "With an…_egg_ in the center?"

All of a sudden, the egg started to glow a bright purple color. It hadn't done that earlier when all three of us touched it… Maybe Julia had a connection to the egg too.

She crouched down in front of it much like we had and reached out, pressing her hand to the mini-dome. Immediately, her head jerked up and she looked over to her right. The action made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and made me scooch closer to Joe.

Almost as quickly as she turned her head, she turned it back to face us. She dropped her hand from the dome and stood back up.

"What does that mean?" she asked Joe, staring at him desperately. "What are you talking about? Who's the Monarch? How are they going to be crowned?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't say anything," Joe said, raising his eyebrows curiously at her.

"Yes you did. You were over there and you told me that 'the Monarch with be crowned.' What does that mean?" she asked.

"No, I promise he didn't move. He stood in the same spot," I told her, trying my best to help her make sense of what she saw. "We saw Norrie's mom when we touched the egg. Maybe that's what you saw, another Joe."

Julia turned on her heel and started walking back through the woods. I looked at Joe and saw that he was just as surprised as I was. Eventually we took off behind her, catching up to her quickly.

"When we saw Norrie's mom, she didn't say anything to us," Joe said, struggling to talk and make his way over the root-covered ground without falling. "But you said that I did."

"Nothing under this dome makes sense, I think we need to stop trying to make it. Everything is happening because the dome wants it to," I said, pretty much speaking what I was thinking.

We'd made it back to Julia's car when Joe finally asked what was eating away at him. "What if what happened to Alice happens to me?"

Julia seemed to get that we needed a moment because she walked away from us. I moved to stand in front of Joe and waited until he was looking at me to start talking.

"I'm not going to tell you again that it wasn't your fault she died. She had a heart attack because she didn't have enough insulin. The dome didn't kill her, well it did inadvertently, but it didn't do it on purpose. You're not going to die because I'm not going to let you," I told him, rubbing his arms as I talked. "Have I ever lied to you or broken a promise?"

When he shook his head, I continued. "Well, I promise you that you're not going to die. I swear that you and I are going to make it out of here. You're going to see your parents again and I'm going to see my mom. I know that I'm telling the truth."

I know how unlikely that sounded, but I really did feel like I was telling the truth. There had to be a chance that we could get out of here. My mom always told me that we would never be put through something that we couldn't handle and I knew this dome was one of those things.

"How are you so sure about everything?" he asked, placing his forehead on mine as he tried to calm himself down. "It's unnerving sometimes."

I just smiled and kissed his chin before shouting over to Julia. The three of us made our way back to Joe's house and were surprised by Norrie. She ran out of the house and threw her arms around the both of us, spewing out apologies left and right.

"Joe, I'm sorry that I blamed you. We all agreed to do it, it wasn't just your idea," she said after she pulled away. "I think I'm ready to bury my mom."

Barbie ended up coming to Joe's and the two of them buried Alice. Carolyn and Norrie watched, holding onto each other as it happened. I had no idea what I needed to do so I just hung back with Julia and Angie.

Eventually, Barbie and Julia said their goodbyes and left, Carolyn went back inside to grieve some more, and I went to go stand with Norrie and Joe. None of us said anything, but we didn't have to. It was one of those moments were words weren't needed, just actions.

* * *

**This ending sucked, and I'm sorry. But review for an actual update?**


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